The Midwestern Clean Fuels Policy Initiative, facilitated by the Great Plains Institute (GPI), recently released a report detailing how a successful clean fuels policy should be designed. The initiative brings together fuel producers and marketers, nonprofit and research organizations, scientists and engineers, and agriculture and industry stakeholders.
A new analysis by the Great Plains Institute shows the challenges as well as the vast untapped opportunities for Minnesota’s forestry industry. Full press release is below. Continue reading »
Managed electric vehicle charging can have benefits for two different groups—the demand side (the electric vehicle owner, the building owner, the power customer) and the supply side (the whole electric grid system). This blog looks at the benefits of managed electric vehicle charging and how it works in practice, using 2019 examples from the Greenway Building (GPI’s headquarters) where charging levels are synchronized with on-site solar production. Continue reading »
Great Plains Institute President and CEO Rolf Nordstrom will serve a two-year term on the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) Sustainable Transportation Advisory Council. Continue reading »
The 2020 Minnesota legislative session is right around the corner, and Drive Electric Minnesota is ready to continue supporting a policy and regulatory landscape that drives electric vehicle (EV) adoption and infrastructure. With that, I want to share a 2020 Minnesota legislative preview for Drive Electric Minnesota’s policy and regulatory positions and some quick thoughts about how accomplishments in 2019 set the stage for this year. Continue reading »
What if we could harness the energy produced by the sun and maximize its potential to power electric vehicles (EVs) with zero-carbon electricity? That’s exactly what GPI has been working on in a pilot project that studies how managed EV charging can pull varying levels of power from the solar panels on our rooftop based on how much solar is being produced at a given time. This ability to use “solar synchronization” could have big implications for reducing carbon emissions in both the electricity and transportation sectors, and presents potential benefits for consumers and businesses alike. Continue reading »
The Midwestern Clean Fuels Policy Initiative, facilitated by the Great Plains Institute, has released a new report detailing how a successful clean fuels policy for the Midwest should be designed. Continue reading »
In advance of the 2020 legislative session, the Bioeconomy Coalition of Minnesota sent a letter to Governor Tim Walz expressing concern about the funding shortfall in the state’s Bioincentive Program.
When it comes to solar energy, a common question is how electricity generation will be affected by seasonal shifts or daily changes in the weather. These variations become especially important when households and businesses consider using rooftop solar panels to serve their electricity needs, such as for charging electric vehicles (EVs). By analyzing a full year of data collected from the solar array on the Great Plains Institute’s own rooftop, paired with the electric vehicle chargers at our building, we have gathered insights to answer to this question.
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Electric vehicle (EV) deployment is ramping up across Minnesota. New data from 2019 (which you can explore in a previous blog post) shows that EV deployment hit new records throughout the state. Between 2018 and 2019 alone, the number of EV registrations in Minnesota has almost doubled. With declining vehicle costs, expanding EV infrastructure, and growing consumer preference for climate-friendly products, EV growth in Minnesota shows no signs of slowing down. The statewide EV map further helps spotlight that EVs are not only a phenomenon in urban areas. In fact, there is only one county of the 87 in the state that does not have at least one EV registered.
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